Two Years?

This is intimidating on so many levels. If Tebow can write a whole book about his life, surely I can handle a few paragraphs, right?? I can’t believe it’s been two years since I left Gainesville, but I’ll do my best to catch you up.

I left the country two weeks after walking across that stage for the most challenging and rewarding adventure of my life... at least up to that point. I moved to South India, where my “job” was to teach music to elementary and middle school students in a small international school. I’m fairly certain I learned a lot more than they did, but the musical at the end of the semester was a hit ☺ I spent the rest of my time building relationships, developing an evangelism curriculum, and helping out with a slum and orphan care ministry. I loved the culture and the friendships and being able to focus entirely on my relationship with Christ and sharing Him with other people. I had no idea what each day would hold, what people I would meet, and what animals I would encounter, but I will save monkey, cobra, and cow stories for another day.





The excitement and sense of adventure made coming back even more difficult though. To go from that to a desk job was not the easiest transition for me, but I was thankful for a great job working with a ministry called New Missions. They work in Haiti, but I was in their stateside office in Orlando. I first worked in donor relations and processed donations, but eventually became the volunteer coordinator.

The best part was being able to be home for a while, and God definitely confirmed that it was where I needed to be and why. My sweet brother-in-law proposed to Lindsey a couple weeks after I got home. The next five months consisted of planning and fittings and tastings, and I could not imagine missing that season of her life. She got married on New Year’s Day 2011. It was a great night, but it’s been even more fun watching them learn and grow since then. I’m glad she’s figuring out the secrets first ☺



Three days after that, doctors confirmed that a lump in my mom’s breast was cancer. Not the best news for Linds and Bryan to receive when they returned home from their honeymoon. My bosses were incredibly gracious and allowed me to join her for every appointment, test, and surgery as we prayed about what would be next. She approached it all with strength and grace that amazed me, and decided to fight it as aggressively as possible. When she went into surgery for a radical mastectomy, I had no doubt that would be the end of that scary journey. Then the doctor came out and shared that he could tell the cancer was in her lymph nodes. This meant a couple of things. Once cancer cells reach that point, they can go anywhere. It also meant that treatment would be much more extensive than we had hoped. Chemo started as soon as she had recovered enough, but again, God was faithful and she was incredible, and our family became closer than ever. She is now healthy and beautiful. And completely rocking the short hair.



Not too long after her diagnosis, a friend from Morristown came to Disney World and invited me to come hang out for a little while. We had gotten back in touch while I was in India and she was serving in China with a ministry called Show Hope. We were both passionate about orphan care and adoption, so we had lots to catch up on. At some point during the day, we joked about how I needed to move the Nashville and work for Show Hope. I didn’t think too much about it until a few weeks later, when I got a text saying the president of the organization wanted my resume. Conversations and interviews started soon after. The timing seemed absolutely insane, but in so many ways, this was my dream job in a city I loved. My family was cautious, but encouraged me to move ahead and see how God led. I had the opportunity to work with people I loved and respected and be a part of orphans coming home to their families. Show Hope runs care centers for special needs orphans and provides grants to help families overcome the financial barriers to adoption. As crazy as it all seemed at the beginning, God graciously worked out the details and I moved south of Nashville the day after my mom’s last chemo treatment.

So that’s where I am now. Franklin, Tennessee, to be more exact. It is a great little town and I have loved settling in and figuring out life on my own. I am living alone for the first time in my life and I’m a huge fan. I’m learning how to use a power drill and I don’t know that I’ve ever felt a greater sense of accomplishment than when I put up a window treatment. Honestly, it will be really tough to live with people ever again! I’ll need some extra grace if God provides a husband. My title at work is “Sponsor Liaison”, which means I communicate with donors if there are any issues and coordinate volunteers when the founder of the ministry has concerts all over the country. I’ll also get to lead occasional mission trips to a couple different places. This move was not something I saw coming, but I feel so blessed to be doing what I am doing.



That doesn’t mean it’s always easy though. I work with some great girls and have good friendships, but I haven’t found community like I had in school and in Orlando. I need accountability, which is something that’s not happening too much at the moment. It's also been tough to be away from family, especially as we process the loss of my grandfather in September. The whole guy/dating/relationship has been a challenge too. There aren’t single guys just hanging out in the adoption world, and I just don’t meet too many that are possibilities. Most of you probably know that I sincerely believed I would marry the guy I dated my last year in school. Clearly that is not what happened, and the thought of being wrong again terrifies me. So I’m hesitant. Trying to trust. And determined to have a great time in this season. I get to experience adventures and an intimacy with my Savior that not everyone does. I want to savor it and learn all I can now. So pray for that when you think about it ☺

This is so much longer than I planned. Sorry, but thanks for reading if you made it through. I love and miss you all dearly. You always have a place to stay when you’re in Nashville, and I am up for hosting a reunion anytime. Praying the new year is a blessed one for each of y'all!

Real Life

Hello Dear Friends,

I miss you. College friendships are so unique and wonderful. Going in we know that at most we'll get to spend about four years together, and eventually drift to different parts of the country (or in our case, the ends of the earth) because of more school, jobs, family. Even still, the magic of college life somehow allows for friendships to grow and develop into relationships with all of the dimensions and flavorings of a wine that has aged well beyond its years.

Now that I'm in the "real world," I almost envy that phenomena.

Last summer I graduated, went to Haiti on a mission trip, and married my best friend all in a span of about two weeks. After a wonderful honeymoon in Jackson Hole we moved to Cary, NC (just outside of Raleigh). Trung had a great job lined up with a traffic engineering consulting firm, and I was certain I would find something soon after we moved in. After a slow and hard job search, I interviewed for an AmeriCorps position with Habitat for Humanity in Chapel Hill. Even though I knew it would only be a temporary job, the position seemed like a good match for my skill set and background. What do I do at Habitat? That depends on the day, no--the hour, you ask me!

By title I am the Youth Programs & Faith Relations Coordinator. The type of work I do could be called program development, fundraising, and event planning. There are two different Youth programs I work with. One program works with the school district in the northern part of the county. Classrooms across grade levels incorporate issues like affordable housing, poverty, etc. into the curriculum. I help facilitate lesson plans, sometimes make presentations to schools about Habitat, and serve as a liason between teachers and Habitat. The schools also fundraise, and one of the high schools has a construction program through which the students build a Habitat home every year. This program is in its third year, and it's my job to sustain it. The other youth program is geared toward the school district in the southern part of the county, church youth groups, civic groups like girl scouts and YMCA, and local youth sports teams. I am helping to create this program, and also secured a $10,000 matching grant for the program to start well. I work with a lot of high schoolers, and sometimes they manage to stress me out. Who would have thought? ;)

As for the faith relations part of my job, I get to work with a lot of churches. It's quite awesome! Churches sponsor homes as well as rehab projects we do through funding and volunteer support. I help maintain relationships with several churches, as well as scout and start new relationships with churches in the community. I love working for a faith-based organization, and being a part of nonprofit that is making a very tangible difference in the community that I live in. The Habitat office I work for, does some incredible things. We work with UNC Chapel Hill often. Below is the link to a video of a campus wide project we did.

http://vimeo.com/16180607

I have had the opportunity to grow and learn so much in the short time that I've been there. I am working under a supervisor who has so much wisdom and insight, and it has been a great experience to work under her. After much prayer and thinking, I've decided to commit to another year in the program (you can only serve 2 years). I think another year will not only allow me to see more of my goals come to fruition, but it will give me the chance to continue to grow and develop professionally.

Hmm, this post is getting long, so perhaps I should share a little about marriage. First off, it's wonderful! Secondly, it's real life. What I mean is that when you're dating, and even when you're engaged, you're most likely not living life together. When you get married, suddenly all of your decisions include and affect another person. Yes, even the seemingly small ones. You face areas of life together that are hard enough for one person, like running a home, finances, etc. Needless to say it has been a huge growing process. But I can see God's hand at work in my heart any time conflict or hardship arises. I started reading a book called "Sacred Marriage" by Gary Thomas recently. The theme centers around this question: What if God's purpose for marriage is to make you holy, more than to make you happy? Even though married life is great and I love Trung more than words can say, I am quickly finding that it's not made to satisfy me the way Hollywood paints it. Perhaps that would taint the idea of marriage for some. But I think I like the idea of a heavenly Bridegroom that is so jealous for my heart, he would let nothing on earth fill it. I think deep down my heart rejoices over the fact that even something as beautiful and intimate as a relationship with a spouse could leave me feeling like there's still something bigger and greater and more fulfilling than what I know now. It makes me eager and hopeful for the day I see Him face to face.

As I said earlier, I miss you dearly. It's great to hear where God has all of you! I was a little hesitant about how a blog like this could work, but I'm excited to see how Christ uses this to encourage us. For those of you who haven't posted yet, I know the first entry seems daunting. We have a lot to catch up on. But I urge you for the benefit of your sisters to set aside some time to at least start. If you can't cover every area of your life, start with just one :) Just like those papers in college, sometimes the hardest part is just committing to writing the first sentence.

Here are some glimpses of my life over the past year:

Our Wedding Day

Our snowy honeymoon in Jackson Hole (It was the end of May!!)

The whole family at the gardens at Duke University

Rock climbing on Pilot Mountain (this is a new hobby for Trung and I)

The wonderful team of ladies I work with at Habitat

Some of the high school students I work with (this is out on the Habitat work site)

I need to get creative for this...

Greetings from Gainesville..lol yep, still here.

First off, I am sorry that I stink at keeping in touch(I’ve always been bad at it, but I hope this blog will change that). I really do miss all of you and the community we had in Theta Alpha. I have to agree with Ellie, it feels like a million years ago.

My life…. Well, it certainly has not gone to my plan, but maybe that’s for the best. I know God has a purpose for me being here and working in a preschool but I def. still struggle with it. I still want to be an OT, and over the past year and a half, I have learned a lot of lessons about the real world, responsibility, what I do and don’t want in life and how important community truly is. So here it is... The good, the bad, the ugly…

Family…Good. It’s been a really hard struggle to be in the same house, esp after being on my own. Having almost a curfew and trying to balance time between everyone in my life. I do love my family, and have gotten closer to them but boy its hard sometimes to stay sane

Friends…Not like my Theta Alpha Loves, but I am building a community of close friends that helps me keep sane at times and to remember how faithful God is and that he has a purpose for all of this. Specifically my friend Lindsey J I am also looking at possibly joining a different church and finding a community outside of grace (where I’ve been since 7th grade) where I am challenged more, and can give more and am possibly checking out Anthem church.

So, I guess that leads to God. It’s definitely been a rollercoaster ride full of ups and downs and twist. I pulled away when I graduated, feeling like a failure for not going to grad school, moving back home, working at a preschool and still occasionally wrestle with that feeling. And I think it contributed to how I pulled away from some of you. I didn’t want to hang around Theta Alpha as the alumni that wouldn’t leave and wasn’t in grad school and I didn’t want you guys to see me like that. And that was my loss. I also should have pulling God closer rather than pushing him away and putting up the front that everything was ok and I was still confident. But I am realizing there is a purpose. I have gotten to spend time with family (even if they drive me crazy sometimes) , gotten to develop a relationship with my middle school youth girls, build a stronger relationship with Tanner, and meet some new friends and learn that while it may not be my plan, God has the better one anyway. So if I am called away to another city for grad school or anything else, this time wasn’t wasted.

Work… I still want to be an OT, even if my boss doesn’t lol. She has promoted me to a lead teacher and hopes i will stay. I have my own class of 2 year olds, wow, its actually kinda cool and def a challenge because now I have lesson plans, and standards to meet and to provide a fun but successful learning environment. I still want OT. I am being open to the possibility that God could call me to teach, but will keep pushing forward to OT until he slams the door in my face lol. I want to help people. I want to make a difference and OT and Teaching both accomplish that. Side note, I miss me time. (I’ve been working 7:30-5:30 every day this past week and 8:30-5:30 before that. Add that to being at home or using the last few hrs before bed to hang with tanner or friends or youth or family. Luckily with the position change, my schedule is changing soon.

Last but not least…Tanner. A year and a half and going strong. He knows me better than

anyone, can make me smile or seriously drive me crazy or keep me sane. Calls me out when I need it, comforts and listens and sees right through me even when I don’t want him to. We have our share of fights (some of them knock out drag out ,not literally but we are both stubborn)but we always apologize or stay to work it out. He brings out the kid in me and while most people think im the more mature one, sometimes I think they are wrong. Because the side he doesn’t show most people is more mature than I am. So I can’t complain lol. He wasn’t what I expected God to give me either (hmmm, a pattern maybe?)

Anyways if you didn’t know this about me, I’m stubborn but I’m glad God is more stubborn that I am.

Prayer Request:

~Mom. Her mother passed away a couple weeks ago

~My youth girls.

~Me. That I would build a stronger community and make a difference. To stay positive and grow closer to God and be open to and excited for his direction. It took him pulling me off my own course to stop and realize I need to follow him not the other way around and yet I still try and grab the wheel lol. I’m stubborn but luckily HE is more stubborn than I am

In closing…. Merry Christmas!!! And Post please, if I can do it, u can :P

Coming To America...

Greetings my friends from the Windy City - that today saw a 20 degree drop in temps over yesterday's highs - winter is all but here!

Like Kelly, I have what could amount to pages and pages of life updates to share with y'all (especially since I haven't seen some of you in way more months than I would like to admit by counting) but we'll get there little by little. For now...a taste of how I came to be in Chicago.

I got back to the States in the wee hours of August 11th after, what for now, I'll just say was a ridiculously amazing year in South Africa that was closely followed by three weeks of backpacking through Zambia and Malawi with some friends. I chilled at home for a few days just trying to catch up on everything - sleep, time with family, meals that included multiple food groups, etc. I was then begged back to Edison State College to work a bit on the 16th and 17th - those were really hard days for me. They stuck me at the Advising counter the week before classes started which meant TONS of people and TONS of people who thought they were the most important people on the planet. Talk about culture shock. I was much happier when they told me I could go make copies or work in the smaller advising center that was just helping students to register for their classes. Y'all know me - I usually thrive under pressure and with lots of things coming at me from multiple directions but that front desk was not my cup of tea and other than airports it was the largest number of people I had been around since I had been back.

One of the girls who was part of my volunteer crew (she was in Johannesburg for her placement) was in Orlando for a large assembly for the Lutheran church that finished up on the 19th. She had known long before we left for SA that she was going to be there, so for an entire year we had been planning to meet up and go play at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - since neither of us had ever been. I went up on the 18th and hung out with Stacy and James and then met Amanda at the Marriott World Center - talk about a massive hotel - more culture shock. We stayed with the Efstathious and got to play at IOA which was just as awesome as I remember. Then I dropped Amanda at the airport on Monday and headed to Cocoa Beach to visit with Caroline for a couple of days.

At this point, I should back track a bit to a random day in Nkhata Bay, Malawi when I stopeed into an internet cafe and had an email from a friend and former colleague of mine from my internship days at the ELCA in Chicago. She had just been hired for a new position and was told to hire someone as an assistant to the Constituent Engagement side of World Hunger. She was soliciting my stuff and I was still in Africa. So I shot my mom a message real quick (the internet connections were terrible) so she could look at the position and potentially submit a resume on my behalf. From there I had no idea what had happened as we were without internet fro the rest of our travels. I found out when I got home that mom had indeed submitted a resume but then we heard nothing so I just went about my merry way trekking across the Sunshine State. I got a phone call when I was at Stacy's that first night to make an appointment for a phone interview on Monday. Monday I was at Caroline's and we were catching up when the call came and I took myself out next to her pool and tried to stay focused on answering questions while the dolphins were playing in the canal out back. Pretty much what Mikka and Dan said was that the position I had "applied" for had been given to someone else. BUT they had a 6 month contract position that they wanted to give me. They weren't talking to anyone else, but they needed me ASAP and pretty much needed an answer by the next day. I said "thanks", hung up, called my mom, talked to Caroline about it, prayed a lot as we sat on the beach, and eventually called them on Tuesday to say "why the heck not, but I can't be there before Labor Day." I was now employed with a salary and full benefits - wow, Big Girl time!

Since everything was on crunch time, I went on up to Gainesville (Stew was pretty much the only person who knew I was coming) from Cocoa Beach and dropped in on a pre-Rush event, and saw some old faces for a few days then headed home to finish unpacking and start repacking and trying to find a place to live. When I was an intern, I was fortunate enough to be able to find a host family to take me in for the summer - for FREE! During my prep time this go 'round, I sent them an email just to say we should ahve dinner, etc. Cindy, bless her soul, responded and said they had converted part of their basement and I was welcome to it for as long as I wanted - and the only cost was to help with the heating bill. :) HOORAY! I said goodbye to my family, AGAIN, and drove up to Chicago over Labor Day weekend. My travels allowed me to have birthday lunch with Melissa and APrats and Stephen in Gville, stay with my sister & family for a night in Atlanta, hang out with Ellie and Joel and watch my first Gator game in forever in Memphis, and crash at Kelly's awesome apartment for an evening in St. Louis before finally arriving to Chi-town on Labor Day Monday. On Tuesday, September 6th, less than a month after coming to America...I was at work.

Speaking of work...I should probably get back to it. More on that and Africa things later. Love you all more than you know!

P.S. I'll try to liven it up with pictures in the future but those would be at home and not in my cubicle...:(

And so it begins

My dear sisters, this makes me so happy.

Life is crazy here in St. Louie. Being out on my own makes me homesick for the community I left behind, but I KNOW I am where God wants me to be. Be prepared that this post will be long, I want you to know whats going on in my life!! I am going to include pictures wherever possible

My program is a two year Master's of Science in Deaf Education at Washington University here in St. Louis. I NEVER imagined myself coming to St. Louis, but they offered me a full scholarship which was impossible to turn down.

I feel like life has been a whirlwind since graduation. Sadie's wedding, going back on Disney summer project as an intern... and then I moved here! So crazy. I live in a one bedroom apartment right between my campus and a HUGE national park that I go to frequently to escape the concrete. I live a few miles from downtown but it is all still really urban. The part of the city that I live in reminds me a lot of downtown Gainesville- midrise apartment complexes with fun restaurants and boutiques in the bottom.

I really love this city, way more than I thought I would. It is a little too urban for me most days, but I love being close to a fun downtown, living in midtown, and being close enough to some wilderness to escape. It is really artsy and has a TON of places that are unique to St. Louis. And, luckily, I picked a pretty dang good time to move here considering I am a baseball fan. 2011 World Champion Cardinals!!

Forest Park- where I go to run, walk, and talk to Jesus

The famous Gateway Arch

The view from the window of my apartment- I live on the 11th floor and I face the park!

My program is super small- there are only 11 of us!! And we take some of our classes with the 13 first year audiology students. We are becoming quite the little family. We all look pretty similar and come from similar backgrounds, but you could probably not find 24 more different people. 

My program at orientation

In typical me fashion, my feet are already in a lot of doors and I like it that way. I have class Monday-Friday, typically from 8-12, sometimes longer. I take all my classes at the Medical Campus of WashU at the Central Institute for the Deaf. St. Louis is the center of the US for hearing loss research and for what is called Oral Deaf Education. It is the opposite of using Sign Language to teach, which is really weird for me, but if I EVER want to get a job I need broad experience- that's what everyone has told me. It is mostly for children who get really good technology early on so that they can be put into mainstream schools early. I can explain more at a later time. Anyways, Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) is not just where I take my classes. It is also a HUGE research facility, a fully equipped audiology clinic, an early intervention center that educates families with children with hearing loss (birth to three), a preschool, and a primary school. So, I take my classes in the very same building where over 50 students are taught using the same things we are learning, which means sometimes in the middle of a class we get up from our seats, walk down the hallway, and observe it in action. It blows my mind how much opportunity I have here. 

CID hires the first year deaf ed students (for minimum wage basically haha) to do lunch duty, playground duty, and after care. I work about 10 hours a week doing lunch duty every day for the lower primary department (age 5-8) and after care. There are 11 kids in my class. I love them so much already, but it is far from easy. It is a really challenging group to work with- out of those 11, only two are typically developing besides their hearing impairment. It is really challenging to manage a class of kids who have emotional, behavioral, physical, and mental disabilities in addition to their hearing impairment. ADHD, autism, sensory disorders, cerebral palsy, eating disorders (several of the kids were on feeding tubes as young kids, which can present lifelong challenges), and one little boy has severe anger issues and the school psychologist suspects some sort of bipolar disorder. He is five. Working with him is the scariest experience I have ever faced in my life- he once tried to strangle one of the other kids. He is getting help, but it is a hugely complicated situation. Within the first month of school I had to give an official child abuse report to the school principal because he told me that his dad beat him up. Please pray for him- his name is Aevion.

Here are pictures of my kids when we had a Cardinals pep rally- if you don't understand why the squirrel is there, google it.

There is another awesome little boy in my life- Jackson! He is a nine year old that I nanny. I work 10 or so hours a week for his family- picking up him and his 15 year old sister from school and taking him to various sports practices. I love him a lot and the pay is wonderful for easy work, but it is a very stressful job sometimes because I am DEFINITELY more than just the nanny- not exactly what I signed up for. The dad lives in Kentucky during the week as a judge and the mom is really high up in her company and super busy. It is super fun to hang out with him but its really frustrating when the mom forgets to send me my schedule, sends me to the wrong place... etc. It is a huge exercise in patience and grace. They have a lot of family drama going on- the latest of which involves his 18 year old sister getting kicked out of college and living at home again, but I do my best to stay out of it and love Jackson and his sisters the best I can.

I found a church here too! Luckily, God really blessed me with a small amount of community before I even got here, thanks to a handful of people from summer project, both this year and last year. We are all really busy and have opposite schedules, but I got here and already had a group of people to go to church with. I started volunteering in childrens ministry within the first month- I couldn't stay away. And last month, after lots of searching, I finally got into a small group. It is super interesting for me to be in this group- with the exception of one girl, I am the youngest. It is co-ed and mixed with young singles and young married couples. It is definitely an interesting experience but I LOVE my group so far. I have already noticed a difference in my relationship with God since joining. It is so great to be in Christian community again, even though it took a lot of work to find it. 

I really love the girls in my program and I think I got really lucky. We have a great community established, although it looks a lot different from Christian community. I am the only one out of all 24 who has a solid relationship with God, so it is really different spending almost all of my time with people who have a completely different belief system than me. I wasn't in a complete Christian bubble back in Gainesville between dance and spending time with girls in my major, but I had a lot of community. I miss just being able to talk about what God is doing in my life over the dinner table, but that has started to get fixed a little with my church small group. That also means, however, that I have become the established designated driver for our little family. I have found myself in a lot of uncomfortable situations, but nothing unsafe. Temptation has been ramped up a lot, and I have definitely not been perfect, but God has been totally faithful through it all. A few of the girls have expressed interest in coming to church with me and two of them already have!! I know that God has placed me here with this group for a reason, and my heart is already so open to them. I love it.

The girls I am closest to- At Oktoberfest (oh man, do I have stories from that night). Lauren, me, Jen, Casey, and Madelyn. Jen lives in my apartment building on the floor below me! She and Casey are in the Deaf Ed program with me. Lauren and Madelyn are in the Audiology. Casey is my closest friend here and we have had a lot of really deep conversations. She and Madelyn have each been to church with me once.

Madelyn, Casey, me, Lauren, and Anita (another Audiology student) at a St. Louis Rams football game.

All in all, life is pretty darn good here. I get homesick a lot, moreso for Gainesville than anything. Luckily, I have been able to see some familiar faces in the past few weeks, including a trip to see Sadie in NC :) Then Kristie (from church) spent some time here the weekend before last when she was visiting cousins in Kentucky, and Brittany Clark came to visit this past weekend!! I am SO ready to be home for Thanksgiving though. 

I love you all so much. That is my life here. School, lunch duty, nannying, church, and lots of friend time. 

Prayer requests:

Safe travels for holidays

My kids- Logan, Landon, Peter, Zaire, LJ, Andrew, William, Katrina, Shayna, Aevion and Aiden.

The family I nanny for

Me being able to avoid giving into temptation when I am not in Christian community

LOVE YOU. POST NOW.